In commemoration of Pride Month, the Institute recognizes the LGBTQ+ people persecuted under the Nazis from as early as 1933 to the end of the war in 1945, some of whose stories are in the Institute’s Visual History Archive.They are stories of survival, resistance, rescue, and heartbreaking loss. Some of the witnesses were targeted by the Nazis for being gay under the German penal code, Paragraph 175. Other witnesses recall their encounters with gay men and women who provided rescue and aid at great risk to their own lives.
Paragraph 175
Paragraph 175 was part of the German criminal code from 1871 on, and it specifically targeted sexual relations between men. While it was not illegal to identify as a gay man, it was illegal to have sexual relationships as such. Paragraph 175 did not target sexual relations between women. The Nazis believed ‘Aryan’ lesbians could be rehabilitated – and forced to bear children.
The Experience Group “Gay Male Survivor”
The term “Gay Male Survivor” as an experience group in the Visual History Archive specifically refers to men who were persecuted for their sexual orientation. After the war, paragraph 175 was still part of the criminal code in East and West Germany. East Germany stopped enforcing the criminal code in 1968. In 1994, after the reunification of Germany, paragraph 175 was dropped from the criminal code. When the Institute began taking testimony, it was still taboo for LGBTQ+ survivors to talk about their experiences.
The “Gay Male Survivor” experience group contains only six testimonies, which are conducted in German, Dutch, English and French. By the time that the Institute began recording testimony in 1994, almost 50 years after the end of the war, very few homosexual survivors of the Holocaust were still alive, being already adults during World War II. However, by reading against the archival grain, the Visual History Archive reveals testimonies from LGBTQ+ people from other experience groups including Jewish survivors and Rescuer/Aid Providers.
A lecture series on marginalized victims of the Holocaust, highlights new and emerging scholarship on often un- or underexplored victims of Nazi persecution. The series shows how historical identity-based hate influences contemporary discourse about race, gender, sexuality, and disabilities.
A Jewish survivor of the Holocaust who came out after the war, Susan discusses coming to terms with her identity as a lesbian, and knowing she didn't have to change who she was even while lacking support and resources.
What makes Gad Beck’s story so remarkable, however, was that not only was he a “Mischling” but he was also a gay teenager living in Nazi Berlin, the epicenter of a military power antagonistic to both Jews and gay men.
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Watch Testimony Clips from the Visual History Archive
Gay Pride Testimony Series
Albrecht Becker on gay life in 1934 Germany
Albrecht Becker recounts the atmosphere for gays in Nazi Germany while Röhm was still in charge of the SA and how the relative freedom he enjoyed during that time changed dramatically after Röhm's assassination in June 1934.
Eva Heymann on working with gay men in her AIDS work
Language: English
Eva Heymann, Holocaust survivor and Catholic nun, describes her experience working with the gay community through her AIDS work and how that exposure enabled her to understand her own sexuality in a more complex way than what she was taught in the Catholic Church.
Marion Pritchard on her early attitude regarding homosexuality
Language: English
Marion Pritchard recalls bringing up the topic of homosexuality at the dinner table and how her father took her aside to discuss the importance of tolerance.
She passed away in 2016 at the age of 96. Read our tribute to her.
Susan Dregely on Coming Out
Language: English
Susan discusses coming to terms with her identity as a lesbian, and knowing she didn't have to change who she was even while lacking support and resources.
Gad Beck on rescuing his lover Manfred Lewin
Language: German
Hearing that his lover, Manfred Lewin, has been taken with his family to a transit camp, Gad Beck makes the dangerous choice to go undercover as a Hitler Youth to break Manfred out.
Albrecht Becker on gay life in 1934 Germany
Language: German
Albrecht Becker recounts the atmosphere for gays in Nazi Germany while Röhm was still in charge of the SA and how the relative freedom he enjoyed during that time changed dramatically after Röhm's assassination in June 1934.
Gad Beck on coming out to his family
Language: German
In this clip, Gad Beck recalls the day he ran in to tell his mother that he "had his first man" and her surprising reaction. It is a sweet story of family acceptance and support.
Bertram Schaffner on helping gay soldiers during World War 2
Language: English
Dr. Bertram Schaffner, who served as a military psychiatrist during World War 2, recounts how he dealt with the military's anti-gay policy while evaluating draftees.
Kitty Fischer on her rescue by a gay male prisoner
Language: English
100 Days to Inspire Respect
Kitty Fischer recounts her time in Auschwitz-II Birkenau when as a young girl she encounters for the first time a gay male prisoner who will turn out to save her life.
Douglas Fox recalls a narrow escape
Language: English
Thanks to the quick response of a homosexual prisoner at the Oranienburg-Heinkelwerke labor camp (a subcamp of Sachsenhausen), Douglas Fox escaped from a line of transferred prisoners who were unknowingly being given a lethal injection upon their arrival.
Stefan Kosinski on meeting Willi G.
Language: English
Stefan recalls the evening of November 4, 1941, when leaving the theater where he worked in Torun, Poland, he encounters a German soldier who turns out to be a man named Willi, his first real romance.
Foreign words in this video clip:
- Ersatzkaffee (German): substitute coffee
Johan Klisser on hiding
Language: English
In this video clip, Johan Klisser recalls when he was 16 years old and separated from his parents in Amsterdam. At one point during his attempt at hiding from the Nazis, he stayed with a gay couple who were part of the Dutch resistance.
Albrecht Becker recounts the atmosphere for the LGBTQ+ community in Nazi Germany while Röhm was still in charge of the SA and how the relative freedom he enjoyed during that time changed dramatically after Röhm's assassination in June 1934.
Watch Lectures
A Lecture by Florian Zabransky, 2020-2021 Margee and Douglas Greenberg Research Fellow
Bertram Schaffner’s story is a unique one because of the multiple roles he played as a gay German American during the period that saw the rise of Nazi Germany and World War II.
Stefan (Teofil) Kosinski’s testimony is the only English-language testimony we have in the Visual History Archive from a homosexual survivor, which is also remarkable for the fact that Stefan is not a native English speaker.
Additional Resources
Visit One Archives at USC
Online Resources at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Paragraph 175 and the Nazi Campaign Against Homosexuality
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Library bibliography: Gays and Lesbians
The Classification System in Nazi Concentration Camps
Lesbians Under the Nazi Regime
The Frieda Belinfante Collection